


Mage Chapter 12- Test The Third (Part 1)

by 50Funny



Series: Mage [12]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: 50Funny, Mage, Magic, Magical, Original Story - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 18:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18856336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny/pseuds/50Funny





	Mage Chapter 12- Test The Third (Part 1)

Part 1- Grouping Up  
Liz, Bip and Alex stood waiting in front of the train door. The mechanism of the door began to squeak and hiss sending the door creaking open. Light began to stream into the carriage as the test takers stepped out into the next stage of their exam. The group walked out of the train looking around the mountainous terrain. They stood atop the highest mountain, nearly touching the clouds. The surface of the mountain was completely flat, as if its peek at been cut off. In the center was a huge carved out hole from one side to the other, a couple of kilometers long. The hole was filled with several winding pathways marked by stone walls running throughout.  
“Wow, this place is amazing,” Bip exclaimed.  
“I can see the whole world from up here,” said Liz, her mouth agape.  
In front of the group stood a small wooden podium completely out of place with its surroundings, with 3 standing behind it. Behind 3 was a row of eighteen rickety looking makeshift elevators, each painted a different colour, running down the lip of the mountain into the maze below. 3 leaned into the microphone and tapped it, sending a thumping sound echoing through the mountains, drawing the attention of the crowd towards him.  
“Attention everyone, we will now begin the third stage of your exam,” 3 said into the microphone.  
He gestured behind him towards the great chasm of winding paths below.  
“This is the Kameno Mountain, once the tallest mountain in the entire world. The peak and a large portion of the mountain's core were mined away for materials at the start of the last Lemian conflict, leaving the crater you see before you. For the third stage of your test, you must pass through the various paths to reach the other side,” 3 returned his gaze from the maze bellow back to the crowd. “The elevators behind me will take you to one of eighteen paths where you will face a variety of different challenges, each one being around a hundred and fifty kilometers long. You will be split up into groups of five. You will each now receive a piece of coloured paper. If you would please gather around the corresponding elevator with your team and we will begin.”  
3 reached his hand into the air and let out a loud click. Suddenly a small sheet of coloured paper appeared in front of each of the test takers. Liz and Alex reached out grabbing the sheets of paper hovering in front of them. Alex held up his piece of paper to Liz.  
“Looks like I’m light green,” Alex said.  
“Dark blue. So their splitting us up. You think you’re gonna be okay by yourself,” teased Liz.  
“Oh haha,” Alex laughed sarcastically.  
3 looked over to the trio seeing the slip of paper Liz held up.  
“Oh right, that reminds me,” 3 muttered to himself before leaning into the microphone once again “Due to unforeseen numbers issues, the dark blue team will only be made up by just two members.”  
“Huh what?” Liz exclaimed in surprise.  
“Only two people huh? Well, looks like you’re gonna fail,” Alex teased.  
“Shut up Alex this is serious, how am I going to do this with two people if it’s meant for five.”  
“I’m sure you’ll do fine, it not like they’re gonna set you up to fail.”  
Alex felt a small tap on his shoulder. He turned around being greeted by the familiar figure of a scrawny well-dressed man wearing a pair of thick rimmed glasses holding a puffer in one hand. Alex looked on uncomfortable and unsure of what to say to the man whose ticket he had stolen.  
“Oh uh… hey there,” Alex awkwardly stammered. “Listen sorry about what happened in the last stage, you know, it was nothing personal…”  
Alex was cut off as the man held up his hand gesturing for Alex to stop. The man held up his small light green slip of paper towards Alex.  
“Oh, so we're on the same team then… So no hard feelings then?”  
The man pulled his out his puffer from his pocket raising it to his mouth and taking in a deep puff. He pointed behind himself with his thumb towards a group standing behind him. A light brown girl with silver hair, a young stoic looking man in a leather tunic with a long axe strapped to his back, and a skinny kid in a hoodie with a rebellious look stood behind the man holding up a light green piece of paper each.  
“Oh, guess this must be my group then,” Alex said turning his head around to face Liz. “I should probably go with these guys, you gonna be alright on your own Liz?”  
“Yeah I’m fine, I should probably go find my own team.”  
Bip gently hovered over to Liz from behind Alex’s shoulder. He wrapped his arms as far around Liz’s torso as he could manage.  
“Good luck Liz,” Bip purred.  
“Right back at ya,” Liz giggled resting her hand on Bip’s back.  
Bip flew back to Alex’s side. Alex locked eyes with Liz and nodded, suddenly overcome by an air of seriousness.  
“See you on the other side,” Alex confidently affirmed.  
Alex turned his back to Liz, joining his group as they walked towards the elevator. Liz let out a loud sigh overcome by a sudden loneliness she hadn’t felt in a long time.  
“Well, I better go find my partner,” Liz stated to herself.  
“No need,” came a familiar voice from behind her.  
The voice slammed into her, sending waves of terror creeping down her spine. Liz turned around to see the figure of the strange man from the second stage staring back at her.  
“Wha… what the hell are you doing here?” Liz stammered.  
“Calm down, I’m not here to hurt you or anything. In fact, quite the opposite,” the man said raising up a dark blue slip of paper.  
Liz’s eyes shifted to the slip of paper, somewhat easing her horror.  
“So… were teammates?”  
“Yeah , I think that’s implied.”  
“This can’t be happening; this has to be some kind of joke.”  
“Look it’s not like I’m gonna kill you or anything. Unless I have to. So quit your whining and get a move on,” the man ordered, turning around and walking towards the elevator.  
Liz stood still for a second in dismay before finding the courage to follow behind the man.  
“By the way, I’m Es,” said Es over his shoulder.  
“L… Liz,” Liz stammered.  
“Don’t care.”  
Each group stood crowded around their respective elevators. 3 looked on at them from behind the podium.  
“You will have two days to make it out the other side,” 3 said shifting his gaze towards Alex. “Good luck.”  
The teams packed into the elevators and began their descent into the maze below.  
Part 2- The Maze (Part 1)  
The elevator let out a high pitched ping as it reached its destination. The door began to pull open with a loud mechanical clang. Liz and Es stepped out of the elevator and into the maze, looking around to gain their bearing. The walls of the maze were several meters tall, looming over the two. The pair walked down the stone pathway into the maze.  
“So what should we do now?” Liz asked.  
“Isn’t that obvious, we walk,” said Es.  
“Don’t you think we should at least think this through first?” Liz insisted.  
“Look there’s only one way to go, what else is there to discuss.”  
The pair continued to walk, passing by an offshoot of the path. Liz stopped looking down the alternate path.  
“Maybe we should go this way?” Liz pondered.  
Es stopped letting out a loud sigh. He turned around and stomped towards Liz, looking down the path.  
“It’s a complete crap shoot witch one of these paths is faster. For my money we should take the more direct one. Any objections?” Es said clearly fed up with Liz already.  
Es continued his march down the path followed shortly behind by Liz.  
“You know you could stand to be a little friendlier, we are supposed to be a team after all.”  
“Less talking, more walking.”  
Part 3- Getting To Know Each other  
Alex’s group strode down the stone corridor single file, a dead silence filling the air.  
“Well as comrades, we should probably get to know each other,” the axe wielding man leading the group stated, breaking the silence. “As the leader of the group, I’ll start.”  
“Leader?” the rest of the group muttered under their breath in unison.  
“I am Tobin of the Great Southern Coast. I’ve studied the Tarkan Axe Arts my entire life, I can create an axe that can cut through even the toughest of metals,” Tobin said raising his hand to his chest. “What about you” he continued turning his head to the man behind him.  
“Ka… Names,” the man scoffed. “Names are just another way that, they, try and control us. I, don’t have a name.”  
“Hehe, it says on your bag that your name’s Timothy,” the lady behind Timothy giggled.  
“Huh, what!” Timothy panicked as he tried to cover his bag’s name tag. “Don’t go looking at my stuff like that dude! What’s your name then if it’s so important?”  
“Oh ahh… I’m… I mean my name is Cecilia and umm I’m… I’m… I’m very pleased to meet you all,” Cecilia stuttered timidly.  
Tobin turned his head to look at Alex.  
“What about you kid, what’s your story?” asked Tobin.  
“I’m a strong magic user, not to sound rude but that all that you need to know,” Alex stated.  
“I can respect that… just don’t let that lone wolf attitude get in the way of the team,” Tobin moved his gaze behind Alex to the nerdy looking man behind him. “How about you Mr Quite back there?”  
The nerdy man raised his puffer to his mouth taking in a deep breath.  
“Ahh, I don’t think he really talks,” Alex interjected.  
“Hmm, well ok then, I’ll just call you Puffs, that ok?”  
The man took in another puff of his inhaler.  
“Perfect, well that settles introductions. Now then…” Tobin said pausing briefly as he stopped, looking at the large intricately carved wooden door blocking their path. “Now, to this then.”  
Part 4- The Maze (Part 2)  
“This is soooo boring,” Liz exclaimed.  
“I don’t remember dropping my less talking rule,” Es replied.  
Liz and Es continued their long march down the seemingly endless winding stone corridors.  
“There has to be more to it than this. We must have been walking for at least three hours now and we haven’t come across any traps or monster or anything.”  
“Do I really seem like the kind of guy who likes repeating himself to you?”  
Es made a sharp left and turn continuing down the path. Liz followed in suit gazing around as she did. She was overcome with an unrelenting dread, her eyes widening as they locked onto something down the opposite end of the path.  
“Es, look at this,” Liz gasped.  
Es stopped in his tracks, clenching his fist in frustration. He began to turn around to face Liz.  
“What did I say about talking!” Es yells were cut off as he realized what Liz had noticed. “No way…”  
Es began to walk over to Liz’s side looking on dumbfounded at what stood in front of them. The elevator shaft they had made their way down into the maze in loomed over them.  
“We’ve been walking in a circle,” Liz sighed in disbelief.  
An uneasy silence drifted through the air as the pair stared at the elevator shaft.  
“We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere,” Es said turning back around and continuing his march through the maze.  
“Where are you going?” Liz yelled after him.  
“To get back on the right path. We’ve wasted too much time already we need to keep moving.”  
“We, need, to think this through,” Liz scowled. “I don’t know about you but I didn’t see any other paths we could have taken.”  
Es turned around swiftly to face Liz  
“Then will look really, really carefully this time,” Es said sarcastically. “We don’t have time to waste sitting around and discussing this, so come on. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”  
Es turned back around and continued stomping down through the maze. Liz let out a frustrated growl before following in Es’ footsteps.  
Part 5- The Arena  
Tobin pushed open the large wooden door, leading the party into the next room. The group walked out onto a small semi-circular platform surrounded by a sheer drop into the depths of the mountain. A small rickety looking bridge connected the platform the group stood on to a much larger arena in the middle with the same set up mirrored on the opposite side.  
“This is different,” Alex said looking around the room.  
Alex’s eyes shifted to the door on the other side of the room as it began to push open. A group of five other test takers entered the room taking in the wide open space. The thin bony looking man leading the group locked eyes with the group on the other side of the room.  
“Huh… who are you?” the scrawny man yelled across the arena.  
“We’re the light green team!” Tobin yelled back. “I take it you're also part of the Guild test?”  
“We’re dark green!” yelled an elderly gentleman in the opposite group. “So what with all of this then.”  
“I can answer that,” came a young girl’s voice from above.  
The groups looked up the large stone wall looming above them seeing a dark silhouette standing atop it. The figure jumped off of the wall landing daintily in the middle of the arena. The sun glistened of the young girl’s long bright yellow hair.  
“Welcome to my arena,” the little girl said with a devilish smile.  
The groups looked on unsure of what to make of the young girl standing in front of them.  
“Where’d the kid come from?” Alex said, pointing to the girl.  
“Hey, I’m not just some kid,” the girl’s face became bright red. “I’ll have you know that I’m one of the Guild’s highest ranking members. My name’s 8 and don’t you forget it!” 8 yelled furiously.  
“So what this place, 8?” the scrawny man asked.  
8 turned around to face the other group letting out an evil smile.  
“Heh… so glad you asked,” 8 said. “There are two exits from my arena, the one to my left leads to a short and easy path to the end. On the right, a long arduous journey. Your two teams will be competing to see where you will exit,” 8 explained. “You will fight each other in one on one battles. The exact nature of each battle will be chosen by the team victorious in the last. The first team to rack up three victories will win. Alright now, enough talking. Let’s see some carnage, hehe,” 8 giggled.  
“Ok, let’s get done with wittle baby’s playtime and move on,” Alex teased.  
“Shut up! Just for that they get to choose the first battle,” 8 hissed gesturing towards the other group.  
“Hey no fair,” Alex complained.  
A thick tension filled the air as Alex and his group waited to see what their next challenge would be.


End file.
